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Strawberry Flavored Plastic
USA 2019
produced by Colin Bemis, Jeff Miller (executive), T.M. Bemis (executive), Tracy Panos (executive), Donald Panos (executive), Rob Casasanta (executive) for The Neon Briefcase Motion Picture Company
directed by Colin Bemis
starring Aidan Bristow, Nicholas Urda, Andres Montejo, Bianca Soto, Marisa Lowe, Raelynn Zofia Stueber, Kitty Robertson, Lourdes Severny, Erica Duke Forsyth, Logan C. Kenney, Henry Hernandez, Giovani Lowe, Maureen Winzig, Steve Boghossian, Jim Cairl, Skylar Fray, Stuart Fray, Margeaux Dupuy, David Beach, Marta Gac, Dana Belmont, Carmela Drougas, Despina Drougas, Bianca Drougas, Phillip Richards, Crystal Wolf, Tommy Wright, Francine Torres, Mari Sira-Leon, Matthew Baker
written by Colin Bemis, music by Matt Barile
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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Errol (Nicholas Urda) and Ellis (Andres Montejo) have chosen Noel Rose
(Aidan Bristow) as the topic for their next documentary. Noel has killed
two people, gone to prison for it but has been released after nine years
for good behaviour - and too late they find out Noel has never been found
out, gone to prison and released at all, only the killing part is true.
And he has killed quite a few people since. But he's about to quit and is
happy to has this step of his documented. That said, Noel's still a
ticking timebomb, as he suffers from outbursts of rage, tends to violence,
and seems to be unable to escape his past. And at first, our
documentarians are actually quite a bit scared of the guy, and when they
witness his first violent outburst, they make a quick getaway. But the
more they get to know him, and get to know his soft-spoken, cultivated and
charming side, the more they start to trust and even like him. Eventually,
Noel learns from his ex (Marisa Lowe) that he has a daughter, Gabriella
(Raelynn Zofia Stueber), and learns that he could get full custody of her
as his ex has other plans anyways, and that really changes his outlook on
things - he even starts to go into therapy. But the rage beneath the
surface remains, and Errol and Ellis, even if they have by now become his
friends, eventually start to egg him on a bit to make their documentary
more exciting - something that can only end in chaos ... Sure,
by 2019, the found footage/mockumentary genre has long had its best days,
with too many cheap carbon copies of its classics bringing it to an early
grave - but then along comes Strawberry Flavored Plastic, and it
makes the genre look fresh again. Basically that's because the film
features an actual narrative structure, interesting character arcs ... and
actually just interesting characters who are all in the grey between good
and evil, with Noel being a monster trying to better himself (failing
maybe, but trying very hard all the same), and the documentarians who soon
enough lose their fly-in-the-wall status and become accessories to Noel's
crimes. Now add to that a solid cast, several well set up suspense scenes
(something the genre usually lacks), and aesthetics relying on more than
just shaky camerawork, and you've got yourself a piece of rather cool
genre entertainment.
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